US Senator Elizabeth Warren: Sequester cuts are ‘just plain dumb’

US Senator Elizabeth Warren: Sequester cuts are ‘just plain dumb’

By Noah Bierman and Martin Finucane, Globe Staff

US Senator Elizabeth Warren today urged Republicans to accept what she called a “balanced proposal” from President Obama to ending the standoff over the series of extensive across-the-board federal spending cuts set to take effect Friday.

“It’s a little more balanced than I would have put on the table if I’d been in that position,” Warren said, describing Obama’s plan as a 50-50 split between spending cuts and “closing some corporate loopholes like oil company subsidies.”

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“We seem to have a government that works only by holdout,” Warren said. “I don’t know anything more to do but get up and talk to the American people.”

She called the automatic federal spending cuts that are scheduled to take place this Friday “just plain dumb,” but offered no new hope on how to resolve a crisis that could curtail government services and kill thousands of jobs in Massachusetts.

4. Tell it like it is, Senator Warren!

7. More from Senator Warren and the MA delegation

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US Senator Elizabeth Warren, the last to speak, said the country faces a choice.

“We can be a country that says, ‘I got mine, the rest of you are on your own.’ We can be that kind of country, or we can be a country that says, ‘We believe in opportunity, we believe in our children and our grandchildren.’”

Warren said the cuts sought could be achieved without going after the various programs that she and her colleagues say are essential to families.

“We need to make cuts to wasteful programs like agriculture subsidies,” she said. “We’re ending two wars, we can make cuts to our military budget, we can close corporate loopholes. There are ways to bring our financial house in order. The president has put a strong proposal on the table,” she said.

All the members of the state’s congressional delegation are Democrats. Democrats are trying to go directly to the public to pressure Republicans back to the negotiating table. President Obama has pushed a proposal that includes a mix of spending and tax increases, while Republicans have balked at raising taxes.